Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Jesters Opinion

Today we finally found out when the BC halibut season is going to open. That is the good news, the bad news is that nothing has really changed. The halibut fishery will open on March 1 for 2011 but this is only a temporary solution and we will be going through the same uncertainty next season. There are many different opinions on what is the right solution. I think that it is time to be more proactive. Rather than the fisheries trying to play the sports fishermen against the commercial guys we manage our own end of it. Last year the sports fishery over fished halibut by 120,000lbs. One option could be a tag system similar to the one used with Chinooks or Steel heed. This would limit the number of Halibut caught by each individual and the numbers could be re-evaluated at the end of the season. Here is the link to the D.F.O’s announcement.